Getting to Know You SSU: Seawolf Decision Day Will Draw Thousands of Prospective Students to Campus, April 12

April 12 will not be a typical Saturday on the Sonoma State University campus.

More than 2,000 admitted students for Fall 2014 and their families will visit SSU to learn about different majors, campus housing, financial aid, and more on Seawolf Decision Day.

It is an event tailored to providing admitted students with the information needed to assist them in making their decision to choose SSU for the upcoming fall semester.

Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. at the gymnasium where everyone will gather until 10 a.m., listening to guest speakers outline the day's events. After this introduction, the campus becomes an open house where visitors can attend workshops of their choosing until 3:30 p.m.

"SSU Exposed," a students only presentation in Evert B. Person Theatre, features representatives from student organizations speaking about student life at SSU. They will answer questions and share information about clubs, student government, Greek life and more during an interactive session from 10:15 -11 a.m. or 11:15 a.m.- noon.

Tours will be offered of campus, the University Library, Green Music Center, Student Recreation Center and several residential housing villages to give students a feel of where they might be living.

SSU is known for being the most residential campus in the CSU system, and these tours will help potential students understand why. There will be open labs to explore throughout campus as well.

Current students of the Department of Music will perform in a "sampler concert" in Weill Hall at the Green Music Center at 1 p.m., giving potential music majors a chance to see what current students have learned at SSU.

There will be a Campus Fair located outside of Salazar Hall with representatives tabling from student organizations, academic departments, and student services from 11 a.m. -3 p.m.

Prospective students will have opportunities to meet faculty from various majors, talk with department staff, interact with current SSU students, and ask questions to help them determine if SSU is the right campus for them.

This is an invitation-only event for all admitted Fall 2014 freshmen and transfer students.

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Sonoma State University Professor Dr. Mariana G. Martinez has won a seat on the Santa Rosa Junior College Board of Trustees, garnering the most votes running against two incumbents. Martinez will represent the 3-4-5 district, which covers Rohnert Park, Cotati, most of Santa Rosa and several areas of unincorporated Sonoma County.

Aside from the two candidates running for president, the Sonoma State community has another candidate to watch on November 8. Sonoma State University Professor Mariana G. Martinez is running for a seat on the Santa Rosa Junior College Board of Trustees.

Sonoma State University President Judy K. Sakaki and others were on hand to tell personal stories at a September 13 reception for the University Library Art Gallery's exhibition, "Creativity Unconfined: Life in a World War II Japanese American Internment Camp." The reception also highlighted the University Library's Digital Special Collection on Japanese Americans of Sonoma County.

Just outside the second floor gallery is a digital exhibit highlighting the Collection. Photos, letters and artifacts from Japanese Americans of Sonoma County and their wartime experiences in American incarceration camps have been digitized and added to the collection.

She gently grasped the branch and kissed a newly formed leaf of the horse chestnut tree in Sonoma State University's Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Grove. "It reminds me of my childhood," says Helena Foster, gently releasing the branch and breathing in the fresh summer air around the tree. "We used to play in the garden. It brings back memories of my brother, who did not make it, because they got him. I'm the only one who survived."

More than 1,350 Sonoma State University students will be attending performances with their academic classes at the Green Music Center this fall free of charge thanks the University's Arts Integration program.

In December 2015 I took a swell trip. While my students back on campus crammed for final exams in my lecture and laboratory courses, and sweated out documenting their lengthy geology field trip reports, I got schooled, in the good sense. I went to Cuba, an island in the humid tropics where perspiration flows like cheap rum. I joined 22 other scholar-tourists from 15 campuses around the country who converged in Miami, Florida, and then made the short flight to Havana, Cuba for the week-long education and research delegation.

Sonoma State University English professor Brantley Bryant, author of Middle English modern satire "Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog," is spearheading the creation of an online open access companion to Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" that will be free for students to use as a resource for studying the classic text.

Sonoma State University student Michelle Kavata recently returned from Haiti, where she helped set up a virtual doctor's office in a rural area of the developing nation--and received college credit for doing so.

Navigating college for the first time can present several challenges for the average student. For the 148 undocumented students at Sonoma State University, those challenges are even harder says Griselda Madrigal, president of Sonoma State's DREAMers Club.

When Polaroid decided to stop making its trademark instant-developing film in 2008, the company destroyed nearly all of its factories. Sonoma State University environmental history professor Laura A. Watt has latched on to the iconic Polaroid style to express another side of her art. Her work is featured in a solo exhibition, "The Evolving Landscape of Point Reyes," at Prince Gallery in Petaluma Oct. 7-Nov. 8.

The world-class music halls at Sonoma State University will soon be filled by the sound of a student symphony orchestra. Sonoma State has hired a tenure-track music professor to direct the Sonoma State Symphony Orchestra, which performs in Weill Hall at the Green Music Center.

Alexander Kahn joined the music faculty this semester, and students are already enrolled in the university's first official symphony orchestra. Kahn holds a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley and a Graduate Performance Diploma in orchestral conducting from the Peabody Institute at John's Hopkins University. He was most recently a tenured professor at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

How was your summer? Well, for two Sonoma State University math students and math professor Martha Shott, it was international. They spent the summer, or six weeks of it, at least, in Thailand with the the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program.

Shott worked with eight students, including SSU math majors Travis Hayes and Ericka Chavez, in a faculty mentor capacity while students studied with faculty at Chiang Mai University, situated in Northern Thailand in Chiang Mai, a city of 150,000.

Sonoma State biology professor Nathan Rank visits Bishop so often, "it's almost like a second home," he says, speaking on a spotty cell phone connection from the eastern California mountain town of Bishop. He's been spending summers surrounded by breathtaking scenery of the Sierra Nevada since 1984 studying the montane leaf beetle, and will continue to do so for the next three years thanks to a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

"We are looking at how genetic differentiations within populations might help survive a really wet or dry year." He adds, "Since this year is extremely dry year, we are making sure to document the populations very carefully."

For students across the nation, graduating from high school is a celebratory achievement. This task is made much more difficult for children of migrant farm workers and low-income families with no knowledge in guiding their kids to obtain higher education. To counteract the disadvantages facing migrant students, Sonoma State University has created a program modeled after the California Mini-Corps program called the Migrant Education Advisor Program (MEAP).

"My mom passed away a week before my freshman year of high school, and I knew that education would be my fallback," says Chris Villedo, a freshman sociology major at Sonoma State University. "So the next four years I really focused on my education." He says Seawolf Scholars, a foster youth assistance program started last semester, has already helped guide him through financial aid, register for classes and navigate complex paperwork and registration requirements. "Having programs like this on campus helps students be more confident about what they want to do in college," says Villedo.

May is National Foster Care Month, and Sonoma State University's new Seawolf Scholars program is helping former foster youth navigate the new and turbulent world of college life.

More than four decades may have passed since man has set foot on the moon, but last year Sonoma State University equipment technician Steve Anderson shot a giant laser at it.

Working in conjunction with a local Sonoma County laser light show studio, Anderson created a 100-Watt laser projector, over 20,000 times more powerful than a typical handheld laser. Anderson demonstrated the laser as part of a visual display the night before the launch of the Orion Spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on December 5, and participated in the Holidays in Space events later that month.

The Apple Watch is the latest gadget in the wearable technology game, but it's not the first, or certainly the last, wireless communication device that will live on our bodies. Sonoma State University engineering science professor Haider Khaleel says the revenue of the wearable technology field is estimated to be $28 billion over the next five years.

"I have been amazed by these wearable electronics since they emerged about 14 years ago," says Khaleel, who specializes in wearable technology and published a textbook on the subject last year.

Sonoma State University senior Alex Bretow was working on the set of a new Steve Jobs biography film when he got the email on March 16: "Congratulations, you've been officially accepted into the Cannes CMF program!" Says Bretow, "I literally ran outside and was jumping up and down."

When the producer/director called his filmmaking partner and fellow SSU student, writer/producer Mary-Madison Baldo, she had a similar reaction "I literally screamed," she says. "I was home for spring break, so I tripped up the stairs yelling, 'Mom!' She came out of her bedroom in a panic because she thought that I had hurt myself or something."

Both are appropriate reactions to finding out you've had not one, but two films selected for the most prestigious film festival in the world this May.

Women represent 24 percent of the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce in the United States, a figure that's risen only 3 percent since 1993 according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. But a new club at Sonoma State University is working to close the gender gap.

"We already have an electrical engineering club, which is geared toward the boys," says Alyssa Afa'ese, electrical engineering major and president of SSU's new Society For Women Engineers club. "Women are underrepresented in our major, so we wanted to start and organization where women can work together."

The club began in fall 2014 and is working to inspire young women at Sonoma State to pursue their interest in engineering science. Afa'ese believes many women are apprehensive about joining the engineering department because of its low percentage of female students.

At 70, Sonoma State University graduate biology student Nicole Karres doesn't need another career. But in 1996 her natural curiosity got the best of her, and after careers in the medical corps in the Army and as a graphic designer at a fortune 500 company, she started what would be a 20-year journey to both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in a field of study that was brand new to her.

Particularly grateful are the jarred fish, amphibian and reptile specimens she has taken to cleaning and re-preserving for future researchers like herself.

Twelve hearty souls from the SSU geology department took a six-day field trip in early September to the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia and Alberta to explore the world-renown Burgess Shale, a UNESCO world heritage site widely lauded as the most important fossil locality in the world.

This field trip ran in conjunction with the upper level Geology elective course, GEL321: Burgess Shale Paleontology, a class taught since 2003 by paleontologist Matt James.

The fossils of Burgess Shale were discovered in 1909 during construction of the Trans-Canadian Railway. These 505-million-year-old fossils, remnants of creatures that once lived in a shallow sea, are the best record of the period of time after the appearance of modern hard-shelled multicellular animals and have proved pivotal to the study of paleontology. They are located in the majestic Canadian Rockies on the eastern border of British Columbia, surrounded by stunningly beautiful mountains shaped by numerous glaciers--in short, a geologist's heaven!

Class selection and academic resources are changing for first and second year students at Sonoma State University with the introduction of the voluntary Sophomore Year Experience Program (SYE).

This program, designed to help freshman transition to their sophomore year and prepare for the remainder of their college careers, began last year as a pilot program and is now expanding further among the university this year.

The Dean of the School of Business, his son, and courageous SSU sophomore Sophie Edwards know the battle against blood cancer well. SSU mounts a team for the Light the Night Walk on Oct. 11 as a fundraising event for cancer research and patient services.

When Benji Silver was three months old, he was diagnosed with leukemia, a type of blood cancer. At that point in his life, at such a young age, he was given a 30 percent chance of life. After three years of treatment and constant hospital visits, Benji survived leukemia.
He is now healthy and happy 11 years later at age 14.

His father, Dean of Sonoma State University's School of Business and Economics William Silver, considers his son a "conquerer" for more reasons than one, including his appreciation for life and his strength to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Queer history is about to see the light of day in California's K-12 schools.

If SSU Women's and Gender Studies Chair Don Romesburg has his way, the story won't just include history-making heroes.

Professor Romesburg has worked vigorously with other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) scholars to develop a new framework that weaves analysis of gender and sexuality as social and political forces throughout time.

Since May 2013, Romesburg has steered a rigorous effort to recommend revisions of the California K-12 History - Social Science Framework.

On Tuesday, Sept. 16, he and two co-editors released the groundbreaking report: Making the Framework FAIR: California History-Social Science Framework Proposed LGBT Revisions Related to the FAIR Education Act.

"Students can only truly understand families, communities, social practices, and politics, by understanding how they shaped and were shaped by same-sex relations and gender diversity--and how this changed over time," he says.

The entrance to the Children's School on the SSU campus is the first step to understanding the power of the environment as teacher.

Some children harvest raspberries as others care for chickens that inhabit the outdoor area that surrounds the school. Pears and other fruits growing in the garden are ready to be plucked soon.Sponsored by the Associated Students, the Children's School offers a one-of-a-kind learning experience for children ages one to five years old, for low income families, and for SSU students and faculty

With another successful year in the books for SSU student-athletes, the Dept. of Intercollegiate Athletics reports that 62 Seawolves earned All-Academic honors by their respective conferences for the 2013-14 school year.
In addition, 12 other student-athletes not eligible for conference awards and/or compete on a team not affiliated with a conference earned Academic Distinction for having a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher. The overall total of 74 Seawolves earning academic honors is an increase from last year's tally of 64.

Student research, scholarship and creative activity capitalize on the strength of the faculty and add currency to students' educational experience, says Provost Andrew Rogerson. Aiming to strengthen the major opportunities that undergraduate students at SSU have for compelling research, Rogerson funded 29 grants for faculty-student teams this semester.

Walk, run, drive, or bike to Weill Hall at the Green Music Center on Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. for the Sonoma State University Symphony Orchestra's second concert of the 2016-17 season, "Modes of Transportation." The program is comprised of four pieces, each inspired in different ways by humankind's remarkable mobility.

American pianist and conductor Charles Ketcham performs the works of G. I. Gurdjieff with percussionist Elizabeth Nott in a performance combining improvisational percussion with composed music on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 p.m. in Schroeder Hall at Sonoma State University's Green Music Center. Tickets are $8, free for SSU students.

Sonoma State University presents "Cries and Whispers: Paintings by John Yoyogi Fortes and Cate White" in the University Art Gallery, Nov. 3-Dec. 11. Admission to the gallery is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus. A free opening reception is Thursday, Nov. 3, 4-6 p.m. in the University Art Gallery.

Members of the Navarro Trio, Sonoma State University's chamber ensemble-in-residence, come together with two instrumental studio faculty for an afternoon of music for piano, flute, clarinet and cello in Schroeder Hall at the Green Music Center, October 23, 2 p.m.

Sonoma State University's Project Censored celebrates 40 years of investigative independent journalism with the Media Freedom Summit, October 21-22, in the Student Center Ballrooms. The event includes a panel discussion with Abby Martin, Mnar Muhawesh, David Talbot and Mark Crispin Miller on the state of media freedom and the significance of independent journalism on October 21.

Sonoma State University's Sport and Social Justice lecture series covers topics including gender verification in professional sports and capturing the Muhammad Ali's meaning. Lectures at October 3 and 25 at 7 p.m. in the Student Center ballrooms. Admission is free, parking on campus is $5-$8.

Adam Savage, co-host of the science-focused TV show "MythBusters," holds a special lecture with Sonoma State University Physics Professor Jeremy Qualls on Monday, Oct. 17, 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall at the Green Music Center.

Sonoma State University hosts the acclaimed solo performance "Wrestling Jerusalem," written and performed by Aaron Davidman and directed by Michael John Garcés, on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m. at Evert B. Person Theatre. Set in America, Israel and Palestine, Wrestling Jerusalem follows one man's journey to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Sonoma State University's War and Peace Lecture Series explores the relevance of the United Nations, the science of war, peace through sustainability and more with talks by Sonoma State faculty and invited guests. Lectures are Tuesdays, 5:30-6:50 p.m. in Ives 101. Admission is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus.

Sonoma State University's Geology Lecture Series brings speakers from around Northern California to the Rohnert Park campus. Lectures are in Darwin 128 at noon on Thursdays. All are welcome to join the speaker for an informal lunch on campus after the talk. Admission is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus.

The School of Social Sciences' annual Brown Bag Lecture Series features presentations by Sonoma State faculty on their current areas of research. Topics for this fall's series include autism spectrum disorders, the rise of factory farming and more. Lectures are noon to 1 p.m. in Stevenson 2011. Admission is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus.

Sonoma State University students Zachary Hall and Megan Rice, winners of last year's concerto competition, are featured in the SSU Symphony Orchestra's program, "A Concerted Effort," in Weill Hall at the Green Music Center, September 30, 7:30 p.m.

Sonoma State University's 2016 Environmental Forum features lectures on topics like climate solutions, growing local food systems, embracing sustainability and more, including a special lecture by Sonoma Clean Power Executive Director Geof Syphers on September 29. Lectures are Thursdays, noon to 12:50 p.m. in Ives Hall 101. Admission is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus.

Sonoma State University's Biology Colloquium features exciting lectures on forest pathogens creating rise of sudden oak death, monitoring of Adelie penguins, prevention of autoimmune Type 1 diabetes and more. The series culminates with a presentation by Dr. Ruth Gates from the University of Hawaii on coral reefs. Lectures take place on Tuesdays, noon to 1 p.m. in Darwin 103. Admission is free, parking on campus is $5-$8.

Sonoma State University presents a collection of works by nationally and internationally recognized artists working in the centuries-old technique of woodcut in "Ink, Paper, Wood: Contemporary Woodcuts," Sept. 8-Oct. 16 in the University Art Gallery. Admission to the gallery is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus. A free opening reception is Thursday, Sept. 8, 4-6 p.m. in the University Art Gallery.

Sonoma State University's Math Colloquium features lectures on topics like robotics, Kepler's Laws, the history of computers and more on Wednesdays at noon in Darwin 103. Admission is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus.

The 45th Sonoma State University Computer Science Colloquium Series features lectures on topics like robotics, automobile security and more. Lectures are Thursdays at noon in Salazar 2016. Admission is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus.

The fall 2016 Feminist Lecture Series at Sonoma State University includes a special lecture by Sonoma County native Rebecca Fein, founding director of the "Powerful Voices Project." Her documentary film series tells stories of resilience, hope and recovery of people who have experienced sexual trauma. Other speakers include Sonoma State alumni and leaders from the local community. This fall's series includes topics like Islam vs. Feminism, breast cancer activism and more. Lectures are held on Thursdays, noon to 12:50 p.m. in Stevenson 1002. Admission is free, parking on campus is $5-$8. The series is presented by the Women's and Gender Studies Department at Sonoma State.

The Sonoma State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble presents an evening of musical collaborations with President Judy K. Sakaki as guest narrator in Aaron Copland's iconic "Lincoln Portrait." The concert is Friday, Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall at the Green Music Center. Tickets are $8 for general admission and free to Sonoma State Students with promo code SSUStudent.

Indian fusion percussionist Selvaganesh and others perform in the fall 2016 Sonoma State University Music Department Jazz Forum. The series includes a wide variety of performers from all different parts of the jazz spectrum at the Green Music Center. This unique performance and master class environment is designed to expose students and guests to multiple jazz styles. Guest musicians perform their music with commentary in a relaxed atmosphere every Wednesday at 1 p.m. in Room 1029 in the Green Music Center, unless otherwise noted. Admission is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus. Limited seating is available on a first-come, first serve basis.

Silk-screened posters, woodcuts made from vegetable crates, paper flowers, yucca root lamps and many other items are on display in the Sonoma State University Library Art Gallery exhibition, Creativity Unconfined: Life in a World War II Japanese American Internment Camp, running Aug. 23-Dec. 23.

In 1964, acclaimed author Samuel Beckett set out on one of the strangest ventures in cinematic history: his embattled collaboration with silent era genius Buster Keaton on the production of a short avant-garde film entitled, simply, "Film." Beckett was nearing the peak of his fame, which would culminate in his receiving a Nobel Prize five years later. Keaton, in his waning years, never lived to see Beckett's canonization. Now, the Sonoma Film Institute (SFI) at Sonoma State University opens its 2016 fall season with the North Bay premiere of "Notfilm," a new documentary on the making of Beckett's only film, on Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. in Warren Auditorium.

The second annual Jewish Music Series at Sonoma State University features artists hailing from New York City to the Bay Area, including trumpeter Frank London (cofounder of the Klezmatics) and virtuoso clarinetist Ben Goldberg with his Invisible Guy trio. All six concerts are free, taking place on Thursday evenings in Schroeder Hall at the University's Green Music Center.

The 2016-17 Sonoma State University Theatre Arts and Dance season includes new, contemporary dances and short plays created and performed by students, critically acclaimed plays and a joint production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" with the Music Department, directed by Lynne Morrow and Amanda McTigue.

The Sonoma State University Art Gallery presents the 2016 BFA exhibition, featuring work from students graduating this year with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The exhibition runs April 28 through May 21 with a free reception held at the University Art Gallery on Thursday, April 28, 5-7 p.m.

How can we harness the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual dimensions of systems thinking to catalyze social change? Author David Peter Stroh brings his extensive experience as an organizational and community consultant to answer these questions in a talk at Sonoma State University on May 2, 7-9 p.m. in Darwin Hall, room 107.

Earth Day is April 22, and a student group at Sonoma State University is encouraging the campus community to start the celebration one day early with events scheduled throughout the day on Thursday, April 21.

A new book by Sonoma State University Environmental Studies and Planning Professor Laura Watt is coming to bookshelves Nov. 29. "The Paradox of Preservation" is the story of landscape preservation of Point Reyes and what the idea of wilderness really means.

Sonoma State University Children's School Director Lia Thompson-Clark received the Champions for Children award from the Community Child Care Council (4C's) of Sonoma County last week for her work in the field of early childhood education.

Sonoma State University is ranked No. 1 on the list of top value counseling Master's degrees in California, published in October by TopCounselingSchools.org. Both the Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling programs were praised for their "commitment to self exploration and personal growth."

Sonoma State University's commitment to sustainability has been recognized by one of the largest international higher education sustainability nonprofit organizations in the world. The University has received a Bronze Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)'s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) program.

Sonoma State University Biology Professor Sean Place is headed to Antarctica after receiving a $618,000 National Science Foundation grant to study how climate change might affect species living in extreme cold environments.

The molecular biologist is specifically studying how temperature affects fish that have evolved in sub-zero waters over millions of years. Antarctic fish, he says, are often considered extremely vulnerable to even small temperature changes. But one question his study asks is this: What might be the positive effects of global temperature increase?

Sonoma State University student Elizabeth Valverde Campos' family moved to California to escape violence in Mexico City when she was only 10 years old. It was difficult to make friends in a new country with a new language, yet Elizabeth persevered. She learned English in fourth grade and overcame obstacles associated with applying for college without documentation.

The Sonoma State University Seawolves have been picked to finish as North Division champions this year, according a preseason poll of California Collegiate Athletic Association volleyball head coaches.

Sonoma State University Physics Professor Jeremy Qualls has received the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Education Award. He was honored along with a handful of educators in categories from pre-school to four-year college at the Chamber's Education and Business Partnership Breakfast this week.

A school record 93 Sonoma State University student-athletes have earned All-Academic honors from their respective conferences for the 2015-16 academic year. And for the second consecutive year, Sonoma State student-athletes set a new department GPA record, topping last year's record of 3.037 with a combined GPA of 3.097 in 2015-16.

On May 17, the Santa Rosa City Council proclaimed May as Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and recognized the Filipino American Association of Sonoma State University (FAASSU) for its spirit of inclusion and contributions to the community.

A group of Sonoma State University students were recognized for their accomplishments after participating in a panel at the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) conference in Denver this April.

It was a longshot. "Like a No. 16-seed reaching the Final Four," says proud professor Kristen Daley. But Sonoma State University senior Hannah Ingwerson defied the odds this year to make it to the big dance -- literally. This summer, her dance piece, "For Example," will be performed at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) National Conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

Sonoma State University Professors Karin Enstam Jaffe and Patrick Jackson are the recipients of the 2015-2016 President's Excellence in Scholarship award. The award honors faculty for their outstanding scholarship, commitment to student participation in research, and their creative approaches for making their scholarship available beyond the academic community. It recognizes the important connection between faculty professional development and enriched learning environments for students.

Sonoma State University faculty emerita Barbara McCaffrey was invited by the Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to speak at the Commemoration of the 22nd Anniversary of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi hosted by the Rwandan Embassy in Washington, D.C. on April 7.

Amid the competition and international perspectives of students from around the world, Sonoma State University's Model United Nations delegation earned its 11th and 12th awards in the past six years at the National Model U.N. Conference in New York City last week. I was proud to be a student in the group that took home awards for Outstanding Delegate and Honorable Mention Delegation.

Sonoma State University Senior Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Bill Fusco has been selected as one of 28 athletics directors in the nation to earn the 2015-16 Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year award.

Sonoma State University physics and astronomy professor Lynn Cominsky has received the $20,000 Wang Family Excellence Award for her extraordinary commitment to student achievement and exemplary contributions in her fields.

Planning for the Girls on the Run 5k charity event resulted in $2k for Sonoma State Human Resources Specialist Erin Rock.

Rock, an alumna of SSU's Masters in Business Administration program ('15) received the "Best Student-Authored Case Award" and a $2,000 prize at the North American Case Research Association (NACRA) conference in Orlando, Florida earlier this month. Her case study and instructor's manual, Girls on the Run Sonoma County: Volunteers, True Strategic Assets, focuses on strategies to support Girls on the Run Sonoma County, a non-profit organization that helps girls develop life skills through conversation-based lessons and running games.

Sonoma State University president Dr. Ruben Armiñana was honored Friday with the North Bay Leadership Council's Murray Legacy Leadership Award, prompting the crowd of hundreds to erupt with applause in standing ovation at the annual award luncheon in Santa Rosa.

Sonoma State University staff member Susan Wandling was recognized last month as an American Graduate Champion by KRCB public broadcasting for her work with schools to lower the high school dropout rate in Sonoma County.

Sonoma State University wine business professor Liz Thach, MW, is this year's recipient of the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Education award.

"It's a tremendous honor to be recognized by peers, colleagues, and associates," said Thach. "I spent years as an executive at Fortune 500 companies and there's no greater validation than doing right by my students. They put forward a high level of effort and excellence each day, and I share this award with them."

Sonoma State University biology master's student Michelle Ferraro took home second place (and a $250 prize) in the graduate division for biological sciences at the 29th annual CSU Student Research Competition, held May 1-2 at CSU San Bernardino, for her presentation titled "Evaluating Optimal Foraging Theory in a Free-Roaming Marine Predator."

The competition featured over 250 participants from all 23 CSU campuses. Undergraduate and graduate students competed in separate divisions by discipline. Ferraro is mentored by biology professor Dan Crocker.

Sonoma State University professors Lynn Cominsky and Suzanne Rivoire have earned the university's Excellence in Scholarship awards for their dedication to academic excellence.

Provost Andrew Rogerson presented the awards at Sonoma State's University Research Symposium on April 15. "When students collaborate with faculty on research, they learn first-hand how experts solve practical problems. Their teachers become role models, mentors and guides for continuous lifelong learning," he said. "This is the classic teacher-scholar model that we value so highly at Sonoma State. Both Lynn Cominsky and Suzanne Rivoire exemplify this ideal and are well deserving of recognition."